Core value · Wonder family
Exploration
Going beyond the familiar
Also covers Discovery
What does exploration mean as a core value?
Exploration as a core value means deliberately going beyond the familiar, into new places, fields and ideas, to discover what’s out there that you couldn’t see from where you were.
The edge of the map is where you come alive. You’re drawn to what lies just beyond the familiar: the neighbouring field of expertise, the untested approach, the part of the city you’ve never walked through. The reward is discovery, finding something you couldn’t have known about from where you were standing. If exploration is one of your core values, staying in well-worn territory feels like a slow narrowing, and you’ll often volunteer to go first just to see what’s there.
What does exploration look like in practice?
- You take a different route home to see where it goes.
- You read outside your industry and bring back ideas nobody in your team has come across.
- You try a new approach on a project even when the old one would work fine.
- You wander a new city without a guidebook to find what the tourists miss.
- You sign up for the pilot, the new tool or the trial group before anyone else.
When is exploration overplayed?
Explorers can struggle to settle and make use of what they’ve found. There’s always another direction to scout, so discoveries don’t get developed and colleagues are left to turn your findings into something useful. You may also undervalue the expertise other people build by staying in one place. In balance, it ranges widely for a while, then commits to digging in where a discovery is worth it. A useful test is to list the last three things you found and pick one you could develop properly this quarter.
Often confused with
Exploration vs Adventure
Adventure is about the excitement of the experience. Exploration is about what you find, and it can be slow, patient and not remotely thrilling.
Exploration vs Curiosity
Curiosity asks why about whatever is in front of you. Exploration goes further afield, deliberately leaving the familiar to see what else is out there.
Exploration vs Innovation
Innovation turns ideas into something new and useful. Exploration is the earlier step of discovering what exists, whether or not it ever becomes anything.
Questions to sit with
- Where have you stopped exploring because you already know enough to get by?
- What have you discovered in the last year that you haven’t done anything with?
- Which unfamiliar territory, at work or in life, are you avoiding, and what are you afraid you’d find?
More values in Wonder
Curiosity, adventure and the thrill of the new.
About the author
Matt Rutherford is a Career and Leadership Coach. The Values Finder is the same exercise he uses with his coaching clients. He also writes Stuff that MattRs, a weekly newsletter with practical ideas to help you think clearer and work better.
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